


A Breeze of Summer

by classicalbughead



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Compliant, Multi, also fuck canon, because I kept some of it but you'll see, maybe some others too idk yet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-03-19 22:25:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18979570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/classicalbughead/pseuds/classicalbughead
Summary: 20 years after the Great War, the children of the great houses of Westeros have grown up and set out on their own adventures.Rhaegar, the heir to the Iron Throne, needs to see all of Westeros before being the kingJoanna, one of the fiercest fighters in Westeros, wants to escape a marriage her parents have arranged for herBaela, the daughter of a wine merchant, wants nothing more than to find out who her parents areAnd across the narrow sea, a former slavers boy called Joron finds something long lost





	1. Rhaegar I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is kinda like a future fic - what happens to their children 20 years after season 8 is set...also HBO said there won't be a sequel to Game of Thrones so I made my own. Sorry this first chapter is rather short.  
> 

** Rhaegar ** 

The wind rushed through his dark locks as he saw the white beaches of the island they were approaching. The big palm leaves were floating in the wind as if they were silently dancing to the sound of the sea. The waves of the blue water were mirrored in his dark eyes as they scanned the shore for a sign of life.

It almost looked like the shadows under the trees were moving, welcoming him in this land he had never been to. But this, as he realized, had just been wishful thinking. No one was waiting on the beach to welcome him or waving their hands in excitement.

Disappointment floated over him and swallowed him whole, like the waves swallowing the sand. He sighed unhappily as he turned his back on the island to face the person, who was standing behind him.

“It seems as if nobody was there to receive us,” the young man said, his eyes still wild like the sea they were sailing on. The sadness in them was now mixed with a bit of anger and they seemed like a thunderstorm had reached the ocean.

The man, who his words were directed at, shook his head in disappointment as well, though his was not directed at the missing people on shore, rather than the boy.

“Not everyone will always greet you with a big parade, young wolf. You better get used to it.”

“I thought he was your family? Is he not?” the young one asked with a confused look on his face. False confusion, as his counterpart knew. The younger one was just playing with him, he knew that the boy knew better, “Shouldn’t he at least welcome you?”

“My Prince, I think the Lord of-“ but he was interrupted by a tall figure who made his way to the two off them. Suddenly they both stood up straighter and watched the man approach. He was strong, with a fierce, but also trustworthy look on his face.

A face that seemed as if it had seen many wars, yet still was able to forgive and live on.

“Lord Tyrion,” said the tall man, whose locks were as dark as the young ones next to him, “I believe we will be at shore soon. Is everything ready?”

Lord Tyrion nodded and gave the young man next to him an apologetic smile. “If you would excuse me, my prince,” and then at the other one, “Your Grace,” and he went away from them both.

“Why did I have to come here too? I thought this was solemnly my brother’s business, not mine” the young wolf complained.

“Rhaegar, you will one day rule the Seven Kingdoms. As a king, you sometimes must do things you don't like. Travel to places you don’t like and meet new people, who will probably not always be pleasant and from which you can’t wait to get away from.

We can’t always do the things we enjoy, sometimes we must do the things that are necessary. And this union between your brother and that girl is necessary.”

“You are going to sell him off to someone he barely knows?” Rhaegar asked his father bitterly giving him a disgusted look.

“Are you still bitter because of that business with the Dornish princess? You don’t have to marry their daughter anymore. They made sure off it,” the King rolled his eyes in annoyance,

“Though it didn’t come as a surprise to me when they didn’t want to see one of their daughters being betrothed to yet another Targaryen Prince, who even bears the same name as the last one. At least they could have told us so when we arranged the match and not years later.”

Rhaegar shook his head. “If Ned is getting married, why not me? I am the heir to the Iron Throne.”

“Because”, explained the King slowly as if he had a hundred times before, “your brother's union has been arranged since he first saw the light of day. It is solemnly business, whilst you have to marry not just anyone, but a queen.

We still have to find the perfect match for you. Someone whose allegiance we need. Besides, your brother is just going to meet his bride-to-be and not marry her here and now.”

“I still don’t understand. You got to choose, who you would marry, why do your children have to do it differently?”

“Well, firstly I wasn’t born as the heir, I was born as Jon Snow, the - “

“bastard of Winterfell I know I know,” Rhaegar said, seemingly bored by the story, “And now we have to secure your position by marrying powerful women.”

The Great War, as the maesters called it, had taken place just over a year before he was born, though from what he had heard it had been a time of great chaos. From this chaos, Jon Snow had emerged as the rightful heir to the Iron Throne.

But once on the Throne, he had refused his Targaryen name. He had always been Jon Snow, he would also die as Jon Snow. His children, however, had taken on their mother’s name. They weren’t Northern bastards after all.

“It’s not like that,” the old wolf sighed, “if your brother ever falls deeply in love, he can marry whoever he pleases…”

“You would just prefer if it was this girl,” Rhaegar concluded. The King just nodded and gave his son a sad smile.

“I guess we’re almost here,” he then said looking over to the beaches, “go and get your brother and come back here.”

Rhaegar just rolled his eyes and went looking for his younger brother, who was probably under deck someone entertaining some of the other passengers they had brought with them.

His brother had always loved making other people laugh, so much so his mother once said he would make a better fool than a knight, even though she knew that he could wield a sword almost as good as he told jokes. Rhaegar wondered if that would change once his brother was married. He hoped it would not.

Meanwhile, the King scanned the beaches, as his son had before him, and noticed a small figure on a horse appearing at the shore. Their armor seemed to glow in the sun and the dark horse they were riding stood out against the white sand. Maybe they hadn’t forgotten about them after all.

 

As they disembarked the horse came nearer. Atop was a knight in a shining blue and silver armor. He seemed not to be too tall, maybe a head shorter than Rhaegar. The knight stopped his horse a few feet from where the ship had landed.

A graceful black stallion, who still seemed to be rather young. The Prince also guessed that the knight welcoming them on the island wouldn’t be too old, as he had ridden his horse quite fast and with a youthful spirit. As the rider would not go any further, Rhaegar decided to approach him instead.

“Are you here to take us to the palace, Ser?” he asked curiously.

The knight nodded and rose his hand to remove his helmet. Rhaegar thought about how awfully hot it must have gotten under that armor and if the armor here was forged from a different material here than in Kings Landing, but as soon as the knight slit the helmet over his head these thoughts seemed irrelevant.

Stunned he watched as long blond locks fell on the knight’s shoulders. The woman just looked at him with childlike curiosity.

“You are the Prince I suppose?” she asked bluntly, her eyes looking at him without the respect he saw in the eyes of the girls in Kings Landing. Rhaegar, who wasn’t used to people talking to him in that way, could only nod.

“My brother is here to meet his betrothed,” he croaked.

“So, I’ve been told…my prince,” she added, “if you and your family would be so kind as to follow me, I will show you the way to the castle.”

“Are you from the Royal Guard?” Lord Tyrion asked and Rhaegar spun around. He had completely forgotten that he wasn’t alone on the beaches with this strange Lady-Knight. The Knight gave Lord Tyrion an amused, almost mocking, smile.

And Rhaegar felt rage rising within him. He never liked it when the common people picked on the size of his fathers’ councilman. But the woman had already turned around and Rhaegar saw some horses appearing behind her to take them to the castle. How they got there, he didn’t know.

As he sat on one of them, his brother approached him. “Don’t you think her hair is incredibly blonde? It looks just like the color the Targaryen’s hair used to be. Maybe she is one of our cousins.”

Rhaegar shrugged. “Maybe all people on this island have such light hair. After all, it is pretty sunny here.” His brother just nodded as his response and followed the knight through the bushes. Still, Rhaegar had a strange feeling about this woman with her Targaryen-blond locks and he didn’t seem to shake it as he rode for the castle to meet the Lord of Tarth.

 

Evenfall Hall was one of the most beautiful castles Rhaegar had ever seen. Even though he lived in the Red Keep, which was, in his opinion, way too big to live in. He himself had lost his way in the dark corridors far too many times.

Evenfall Hall was built on top off a cliff where it overlooked the sapphire blue sea. Some might have said it was ugly because it’s wall weren’t red like the read keep or because it wasn’t tall like the Hightower in Old Town, but when the sunlight touched the stones the castle wall shimmered so bright, they almost reflected the water beneath it.

The waves danced on the old stones as they entered the gate. The Lady-Knight with the long locks dismounted her horse and ushered them to the big portal.

“The Lord and Lady of Tarth will be with you in a second,” she said with her silver helmet already removed. Rhaegar knew that it was possible for women to become knights, though it still wasn’t common in King’s Landing, which still baffled him a little bit.

He knew many ladies, who would make great fighters. His sister Lyanna for example. She would have loved to come here, to see this island with all its white beaches and the sapphire blue water. Maybe one day she could see all of this if she wasn’t married off somewhere else before that.

To Rhaegar’s left his very nervous brother emerged. Eddard was fiddling with the ends of his tunic.

“Stop it,” Rhaegar whispered quietly, “What are you nervous about?”

“Maybe she won’t like me,” Eddard murmured so low Rhaegar was sure nobody but himself could have heard that.

“Why wouldn’t she? You are the Kings son, the future King in the North. And don’t get me started on your hair,” Rhaegar added with a smile on his lips and pointed at his brothers’ auburn locks that framed his face and made him look even younger than he actually was.

Nobody would have believed him if he had told them Ned and he had shared a womb once. The two of them looked nothing alike.

“But I’m not you…” Eddard said looking up at his brother with sadness in his eyes, “every girl always wants you.” He wanted to give his brother some words of comfort as the portal before they got opened and a young servant gallantly showed them inside the throne room.

Rhaegar and Eddard politely followed their father inside with a few feet between them, as it was common for the heirs to the Throne.

The throne room itself was also a lot smaller than the one in the Red Keep but when Rhaegar looked up he saw the blue and red banner from house Tarth hanging from the ceiling.

At the other end of the room were two very comfortable looking seats, way different from what Rhaegar had heard about the Iron Throne. In them sat the Lord and Lady of Tarth.

He had heard many tales and songs about them. The Maiden of Tarth – well not anymore – was one of his sister Lyanna’s great heroines. She was said to have fought bravely in the Long Night and later was the first woman to be knighted just after the battle.

To her right, the Lord of Tarth waved them toward themselves. Kingslayer, they had once called him, though, Rhaegar thought, he was a Queenslayer now too. The Golden Lion of House Lannister, but his Golden Lion days were far behind him. Not even his famous golden hand gilded his right hand.

But although Jaime Lannister had lost one hand, Rhaegar had heard that he was still a better fighter than half the knights in the Seven Kingdoms. But not better than the Lady of Tarth, who now got up to greet them.

“My King,” she said as she bowed before Rhaegar’s father. Her hair was as light as the beaches they had landed on and her eyes matched the blue of the waters on the end of the cliffs the castle was seated on.

“King Jon Snow, first of his name,” Jaime Lannister exclaimed as he also made his way over to them, “I never would have thought that there would ever be a King with a bastards name on the Iron Throne.” His wife shot him a warning glare. “Where are my manners: Welcome to Tarth, Your Grace.”

“We owe you our thanks to letting us stay here at Evenfall Hall,” the king smiled, “It is quite beautiful here. I’m sure my family will enjoy our stay here.” He moved aside and gave Rhaegar and Eddard a sign to step forward. “These are my sons, Rhaegar, the heir to the Seven Kingdoms, and Eddard, heir to Winterfell.” The Lord and Lady of Tarth both bowed.

“We are very delighted for you to stay here. Our children will be very pleased to have someone from the capital to talk to,” the Lady Brienne said. Rhaegar thought how wonderful it must be to have lived an entire life on this little paradise. Since he had gotten here Tarth had been nothing but the most beautiful place he had ever seen. He couldn’t imagine how anyone had ever left it.

“I’m sure you are both well acquainted with my current Hand, Lord Tyrion.” His father's Hand stepped forward. “Good to see you again, dear brother. How long has it been?”

“Fifteen years, I believe,” the Lord of Tarth answered with a smirk, “Too long for my taste…I also had no one to drink wine with.” Tyrion Lannister gave his older brother a sly smile.

“Have you brought your wife with you, Your Grace?”, the Lady asked.

“No, Ser Brienne, I am afraid not. Lady Sansa remains in Winterfell, though she wants me to send you all the best wishes and she will pay you a visit as soon as possible.”

“With you and your two sons and you Hand all traveling here, a question arises: Who rules King’s Landing in your absence, your Grace?”, Jaime Lannister asked. Rhaegar had asked the same question only one day earlier as they were still on the ship to Tarth and his father had given him the same answer as he did Jaime Lannister.

“Lord Gendry Baratheon. He was chosen as your replacement as Master of War, as you maybe recall, my Lord. You seem to have trained him well, though I am afraid he serves more as a Master of Peace now and is set on the task of rebuilding the cities that are still in ruins from the Great War.”

Jaime Lannister nodded. “A fine choice, your Grace. Now I think that we have talked too much, and I know your visit here serves a purpose,” he eyed Eddard knowingly, “may I present to you, my children.” He pointed to the doors next to the seat he had just risen from.

From the shadows emerged a small group of people. All of them bore blonde locks and most of them had sharp features. Lannister features, as Rhaegar recalled, though their hair was almost silver like the one the Targaryen’s used to have, until his father came along, though he was half a Stark.

The youngest one was holding on to one of his older brothers hems and looked around confused. He could not be older than five, Rhaegar thought.

Jaime couldn’t keep down a proud smile as each of his children bowed before the king and his sons. Rhaegar studied their faces and stopped at the last one. He knew her and it dawned on him where from, as Jaime pointed at her.

“This is my eldest and the heir to the island of Tarth, Joanna.” As Joanna looked up to meet the eyes of the crown prince, a small shiver ran down Rhaegar’s spine. She was the knight, who had welcomed them on the beach and shown them to Evenfall Hall. Nobody had recognized her, not even…

“Hello, uncle,” she whispered with an amused smile as she looked upon a baffled Tyrion.

“How you have grown…Why didn’t you say a word about who you were?”

“I didn’t want to ruin the surprise,” she smiled and then she turned to the king and her sapphire blue eyes reflected the flames from the sun that came in through the windows. Rhaegar looked at his brother, who also stared at the girl in fascination, “My father will host a feast in your honor tonight, you Grace.”

“We would be happy to share meat and mead with you,” the old wolf replied and Rhaegar nodded in agreement. Maybe coming to Tarth hadn’t been such a bad idea after all.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy it...maybe there is a twist or two in there, who knows? :)  
> I don't own the original characters (tho I wish I did I would treat them so much better)  
> I also have no beta, so bear with eventual mistakes, sorry.  
> I haven't read all the books (yet), so if you notice a mistake please tell me. As the books aren't finished yet (looking at you GRRM), I based this on the show (tho not the last season...well not too much, but you will see what I changed from the last few episodes), so most of the original ships aren't canon in the show (or never were) but bear with me this is just how I cope with things.


	2. Baela II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is one of my own characters, just to see how other people are doing in other parts of Westeros, like Dorne.  
> Sorry that this is unbeta-ed

**Baela**

The sun was setting as the cart finally stopped in front of a small valley. They had been on the road for days and as much as Baela loved to get out of Blackmont and to see other parts of the kingdoms, she hated sitting on this cart.

It was already the fifth year since her father had allowed her to drive the cart up to Highgarden herself to sell their wine there. Well, she was not totally alone this time at least. Her best friend Maege had come with her, though only because her parents thought it would be best for her to see some of Westeros before she settled down with her husband and children.

What they didn’t know was that Maege, who had only been married for three moons was already with child. This was one of the reasons she had agreed to join her best friend on the road to Highgarden. She didn’t want her mother making a big fuss about it and gods knew how annoying Maege’s mother could be, especially if she found out that the child had been conceived before Maege had gotten married.

Maege’s husband, a gallant young man called Erwyn, had also traveled North to say farewell to his father, who had been sick for years. He had no objection when Maege told him about leaving for Highgarden, but he made Baela promise him to bring her and his child back to him safely. And Baela intended to do that. She just hoped they would come back in time for Maege not to give birth on the cart.

“I think we should stop here for tonight,” Baela announced jumping off the cart, giving the mules a soft rub on the belly. “We can all use some rest.”

Maege nodded and climbed down from the cart as well. Her belly was already visibly swollen and Baela looked at it nervously. Two women alone on the road had always been dangerous, but with Maege being pregnant this added a whole new level of risk.

But Maege didn’t seem to be worried at all. She had always been way braver and more reckless than Baela. Even when they were little kids and were just playing on the streets of Blackmont, pretending they were ladies, who lived in one of the castles.

Once, when they were just seven years old, Maege managed to convince Baela to sneak into the castle and dress as servant girls. They even got into the kitchen where the two of them stole some of the most delicious bread Baela had ever eaten.

Unfortunately, the young lord of Blackmont crossed paths with them and saw their dirty feet underneath the clothes they had found somewhere in town. But Maege and Baela were skinny little girls, who did nothing but run around all day and so they were way faster than all the soldiers, who ran after them and tried to catch them.

Baela had never told her father about this for he would be furious with her. A wine merchants daughter running through the castle…Nobody would buy my wine if they’d know I let my children infiltrate the castle. Father had always been very concerned with the family’s honor. He would never let anyone pull it through the dirt. Not even Baela.

Thankfully for them, Baela had traveled to Highgarden many times before so she knew where they could sleep without having to fear of being seen.

The Prince’s Pass was only one of the possible routes to get to their destination but Baela had figured that going up the Torentine would be too dangerous for Maege, even though Baela knew that Maege would love the waterfalls near Nightsong.

But Baela had heard that the Torentine had gained lots of water and so it was safer for them to make their way through the Red Mountains, which was a little more challenging especially with a card but they had managed to reach the Prince’s Pass without any incidents.

“When you take over your fathers’ business, will you give me wine for free?”, Maege asked as Baela lead her to a small cave that was hidden from the main road.

“If I ever take over,” Baela mumbled fastening the straps on the halters of her mules. She caressed them absentmindedly as she watched Maege pulling out some bread her father had packed for her.

“Why wouldn’t you? You have driven to Highgarden for…how many times now?”

“I didn’t keep count,” Baela stated, “but father will probably give it to Daeron.”

“Just because he is a boy doesn’t mean he will get everything when your father dies, Baela. You know that’s not how we do things here in Dorne.”

Baela sighed. “Maege…that’s not the reason…”

“If it’s because you are a bastard, then I have to have a long talk with your father. I never thought he would hold that against you. I mean even the king had a bastard name and…”

“That’s not it, Maege,” Baela whispered, tears welling up behind her eyes, “Father told me I wasn’t a bastard…he said that my parents, well my real parents, died a few months after I was born. He did not tell me how or where, but he told me that they were close friends and so he adopted me.”

“So, you aren’t a bastard? And he kept it a secret for over 20 years?”, Maege was baffled. Baela wanted to look at her but it had already gotten so dark that she couldn’t see the expression her best friend was making.

“Yes, but he said that it wouldn’t make him any less my father and I agreed. But I can’t take over his business. Daeron is his only trueborn child.”

“I know he is your brother and you love him dearly, but Daeron is not the ripest grape at the harvest,” Maege admitted, which made Baela chuckle.

“Father has decided to send him to Sunspear to sell our wine, so we will see how that will go.”

“In that case, I dearly hope we sell more than he does.”

Baela smiled, although she knew Maege wouldn’t see it. The market in Highgarden was always overflowing with merchants, but Baela and her father had made a name for themselves and were one of the most renown wine merchants there, so Baela had no doubt that she would sell more than her little brother.

Though she still hoped things would go well for him. He was still her brother and she remembered the day when they both had run through the vineyards and played catch and how her mother had been so mad because they could have destroyed the harvest completely that she made them sit inside for a week and study some of the old histories of Westeros.

From this day on Daeron and Baela never played in the vineyards again, instead, they had gone down to the Torentine and spent their days building little ships and letting them flow down the stream. She missed those days.

Baela felt Maege shuffling beside her. “What is it?”, Baela asked nervously.

“The baby’s just kicking a little, nothing to worry about.”

But Baela did worry. She had spent enough time with pregnant girls to know that babies didn’t kick that early on into a pregnancy. Baela knew that Maege had lied to her parents about when she had gotten pregnant, but Baela was her best friend.

She wouldn’t judge her for getting pregnant before getting married. Most times that’s why marriages happened in the first place, other than that the parents had arranged it. The only reason Baela wasn’t married yet, was that her father had very high standards when it came to marrying off his only daughter, or at least that’s what he told her.

In light of recent events, Baela had concluded that he was waiting for her to make a decision because she wasn’t his to give away. The problem with that was that Baela had never felt an attraction towards anyone before.

Of course, she had seen some handsome boys in town, but they had all turned out to be either overly shallow or vain. She just hoped to find someone one day…if just for her mother to not look at her so bitterly whenever the subject arose at dinner.

 

She had almost sunken off to sleep as she heard hooves in the distance. Soldiers, she thought. And as she heard the clashing of swords, her assumption turned out to be true. Baela hoped they would only be some drunkards from Kingsgrave, which was only a few miles to the southeast from them.

Maege seemed to be deep asleep and Baela envied her for how she could fall asleep everywhere. But in moments like these Baela was glad that she wasn’t a deep sleeper. Without making a noise she crawled out of the small cave.

She saw two figures just a few feet away from her. They were banging their swords together and even though she wasn’t much of a swordswoman, Baela could tell that the taller one was winning.

Slowly she brought her hand down to her boot where she had hidden a small dagger her father had given her. He would have never let her leave without it. The Prince’s Pass was still dangerous for two women to be traveling alone. She flicked the small blade in her hands. Too bad she didn’t know how to use it properly.

When she had just been a little girl, she had dreamed of wielding a sword, but that soon changed when she had seen what war had done to the kingdoms. She wouldn’t want to spill the blood of innocents in some useless fight for power or glory. Or just for fun like the two men on the road were just having as she heard them lowering their swords and passing by her hide-out on their way back to Kingsgrave.

Maybe she had been too naïve, Baela thought as she returned to the cave, who would want to attack or steal something from a wine merchant. She was no highborn lady, she was just Baela Sand. Nobody would pick a great interest in a skinny girl with black hair, she looked like everyone else in Dorne, as did Maege, but other than her, Maege was also pregnant.

Shivers ran down Baela’s spine as she remembered what bedtime stories mother used to tell her about men, who lived in the Red Mountains and cut out children from their mother’s bellies. It was just an old story to keep the children from running into the mountains and getting lost, but Baela still got goosebumps when she thought about it.

 

Baela was awake before the sun stretched her first light onto the lands. She awoke Maege and they became making the carriage ready for another day’s ride. Though Baela had used to stop in Kingsgrave every year to sell her wine there, for she had enough of it, now she wasn’t so sure about that anymore. But when they saw Kingsgrave castle Maege was too excited to see it for Baela to keep her from it.

She sometimes forgot that Maege had never left Blackmont before. Baela had first left her hometown when she was just five years old. Her father had taken her to a market in Nightsong to sell their wine there and Baela had fun running through the many different stalls and smelling so many different scents from foreign herbs.

Her father had then taken her to one of the stalls of an old lady from Braavos, who sold many strange spices. She even gave Baela a little package of lilac-colored flowers that smelled like Baela imagined the gardens in Highgarden would smell like. She had kept them on the little table by her bedside ever since.

When she finally traveled to Highgarden, she was disappointed to find the gardens smelling of nothing but grass and one or two occasional roses, which were still left from the time the Tyrells had resided there. As she was leaving the castle, she took one of them with her to give to her little brother who had scarcely been ten by then. Baela asked herself how long roses would still grow in Highgarden.

If she had been the one who got the castle, she would have eliminated all of the remnants that reminded the people of their former Lords, especially their sigil flower, which was, in this case, the rose. Now the banners showed a green, flaming chain. So nobody will forget he helped burn hundreds of men with wildfire, father had told Baela when she had asked him about the Lord of Highgarden.

Her father used to shudder whenever he told her about wildfire. In her studies of the histories of Westers, which her mother made her take, she had read about this specific weapon the Mad King had loved to use. And how he threatened to burn the whole city of King’s Landing. Ironic that just a few years later another Mad Queen had blown up a sept in the middle of the very same city with the very same weapon.

Baela was really glad that things had changed in the capital now. The new King seemed just and fair and in favor, if his subjects rather than against them. She wondered if they would now enter an age of peace, though she highly doubted that any kingdom could live without war. It lays in the nature of humans to fight each other, her mother had once told her when giving Baela another history lesson.

Although she had originally despised studying books and staying inside for a whole day while the sun was shining outside, she was grateful for these hours her mother had spent teaching her to read, to write and to understand the Seven Kingdoms.

Especially when traveling, this knowledge would come in useful. In Kingsgrave, for example, the people disdained people, who travel to or from the Reach because the founder of House Manwoody, the Lord of Kingsgrave, slew a King of the Reach.

That event eventually gave the towns its name. Every time Baela would sell her goods in Kingsgrave she pretended to travel south and that she had only come to Kingsgrave to sell some wine. It was indispensable that nobody from Kingsgrave would see her leave the following night because then she could never praise her products there ever again.

That was just another reason why Baela had wanted to avoid going there in the first place, but Maege’s excitement just rose when Baela had told her that they had to be extra careful not to tell anyone where they were going.

“It is a quest then,” Maege announced smilingly, “I love a little danger.”

Baela only wished she would too, but the attention she would be paying to all those potential thieves, killers or rapists would probably get in the way of her amusement time. Though Maege didn’t seem to worry at all, she was enjoying how the faces of the people lit up as they saw their cart entering the street.

Baela, on the other hand, got goosebumps. She almost turned the cart around when an old drunk tried to climb onto it. Thankfully a younger man pulled him back and Baela arrived at the marketplace without further incidents.

The sun shone down on them and made the red stones around them even hotter than they already were. It wasn’t even midday, but Baela wished to get out of her fine fabricated dress and dip into a river. When she was just thirteen years old the summer days had gotten so hot that she and Maege had decided to follow the Torentine downstream.

 They had almost made it to Starfall, the seat of House Dayna and the spot where the Torentine would flow into the Summer Sea when a fisherman had pulled them out and tried explaining to them how dangerous their endeavor had been.

Baela remembered the worried look on her mother’s face when she found the two girls shimmering at the banks of the Torentine. Even though she now realized that swimming down the river hadn’t been the best idea, she would give everything to feel the water on her skin.

Maege loved the market. Every stall offered different products and most of them were unknown to Maege.

Baela smiled as she was pulled towards a big stall which sold scented oils from the Free Cities. If Maege liked this, she would be blown away by the size of the one in Highgarden. There were twice as many merchants selling wine there as there were people on the market square in Kingsgrave.

“I see you now have gotten yourself a new traveling companion,” an older woman observed as she gave Baela some coins for a flask of her wine. Baela nodded silently. These people didn’t have to know the truth about why Maege was actually with her.

“We are training her to sell some wine on her own,” Baela falsely told the woman, who gave her a toothless smile as she wobbled to the next stall.

 

“This has been fun,” Maege exhaled as she and Baela packed up their things and headed back to the road again. Luckily for Baela, there hadn’t been many people at the market today, so most of her goods were to be sold at Highgarden, which was far less personal, than here.

“I can’t wait until we make it to the Reach. I want to see the wide grass…” “Shhhh!”, Baela interfered looking around them in panic, “You know people here don’t like to hear that. Maege rolled her eyes, but she didn’t get back on the topic again. Instead, she told Baela some story about Erwyn, which Baela had heard a hundred times before.

As they were leaving Kingsgrave to get back to the Prince’s Pass Baela looked closely at the mountains. The sun was already setting, so she wasn’t absolutely sure, but she could have sworn a shadow had been following them from the town.

She shook her head. Sometimes she could get a little too anxious about their travels. Baela had taken this way many times now and never had anything bad happened to her, so why should now be any different, just because she had Maege with her.

But the thoughts of Maege being kidnapped kept nagging on her brain and so as Baela wanted to stop next to the road to find a place to sleep at night, she had the perfect speech in mind to convince Maege to be more cautious and to maybe even hatch an emergency plan, when Maege pointed at something in the distance.

“Why can’t we stay at that tower over there. It seems abandoned and we don’t have to fear any robbers getting us inside these walls.” Baela was just about to explain to her how people could get into that castle anyhow when she realized what Maege was pointing at.

The tower really had been abandoned for many years and some of the stones had already fallen down. It wouldn’t be long now, and the walls would come tumbling down and make this place a ruin. Baela just hoped it wouldn’t be tonight.

“Maege, that is the Tower of Joy,” she explained as they approached it. Maege’s eyes grew wide. Every child in Dorne had heard about the birthplace of Jon Snow and, more importantly, how Eddard Stark had defeated Ser Arthur Dayne there.

Especially in Blackmont, which was just a few miles upstream from Starfall, this tale had been very popular. It was also one of the reasons why some of the older town people weren’t that fond of Northerners. When Daeron had been younger he had always told her, he wanted to be as great a knight as Arthur Dayne. Baela only hoped he would one day be able to run her father’s business.

The Tower of Joy ranked up high in front of them. Baela jumped off the cart and went to look for a tree to tie up the mules there.

Thankfully the nights in Dorne were still a welcome refresher from the blazing heat that dominated the lands by day.

The Reach, which was said to be the most beautiful of the kingdoms had lots of water and next to the roads one could find grass instead of sand.

Baela didn’t like the sand very much, particularly when it was windy because then it would also get into her eyes. Of course, Baela wore one of these tunics that protected her face from the small grains, but they still managed to get through to her.

When she returned from behind the Tower where she found a spot that wasn’t easily seen by the main road to tie up the mules, Maege was gone.

Maybe she has already gone inside Baela tried to calm herself, as she felt her entire body shaking.

As quietly as possible she climbed up the steps to the Tower’s door. As she opened it, Maege stood inside. It felt like a stone had fallen through Baela’s heart.

“I was worried when I couldn’t find you down there,” Baela mumbled as she wanted to close the door behind her.

“Stop!”, Maege screamed and Baela stopped in her tracks and looked at what Maege had been staring ever since Baela hat entered the room.

Behind the door stood a man. He wore a dark hood around his head and had a sword pointed directly at Maege. Baela’s heart sunk and her breath was quickening. She had to keep a cool head now.

“What do you want?”, she uttered.

“Pretty girls like you shouldn’t be traveling alone. These roads could be very dangerous,” his voice was deep and gave Baela chills.

“What do you want?”, Baela repeated.

“Someone to warm my bed at night, someone to cook my dinner, someone to…”

“Then go look for a woman the old-fashioned way,” Maege told him bluntly, ”Only cowards steal girls.”

“Did you just call me a coward, bitch?”, the man said in a tone that made Baela clear to choose her next words very wisely.

“Seeing as you only need one of us, you could let the other one go. My friend here is already married and is carrying a child with her. It would be an insult to the Mother to take her from her husband and the father of her child,” Baela tried to explain to the man, “If you let her go, I will go with you willingly.”

“With child…”, the man murmured. For a second Baela thought that her move had been too risky that he would proceed to butcher Maege and do even worse to Baela, but the man lowered his sword.

“Go, bitch, before I change my mind,” he barked at Maege.

Maege, who had tears streaming down her face ran past Baela, who was still standing at the door.

“Take the cart back to my father and tell him what happened,” Baela whispered quietly as she passed Maege and her friend nodded softly as Baela closed the door behind her.

“Well, little lady, I don’t think you know what you agreed to,” the man admitted with a smirk.

I will regret that he didn’t kill me on the spot, Baela said in her head, as she sat down next to the window, where the stars were illuminating the darkness and casting their light at the Tower of Joy.

The Tower of Joy, Baela thought bitterly, I don’t think it brought much joy to many people.

“Tomorrow we will ride North, bitch,” the man informed her, as he plopped himself down in front of the door. Good, Baela wouldn’t want him near her.

“What are you going to do with me there?” Baela knew what men like that did to young girls like herself. The mere thought of it sent shivers down her spine.

“Sell you. Dornish beauties like you are worth much, especially virgins,” the man stated, as he leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

At least he wouldn’t touch her until he successfully sold her to a pleasure house then. That was the only bit of relief Baela could see in this hopeless situation.

She turned back around to the window. In the distance, she spotted her little cart turning onto the Prince’s Pass. She sincerely hoped Maege would make it to Blackmont. Not all hope was lost.  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I said, I haven't read all the books, nor do I have the ultimate knowledge...I did try to inform myself and if there are any errors pleeease correct me.  
> Also, you can check out these places on the asoiaf map because they are in fact real (well in the world of asoiaf...)


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